The feeling of the wind hitting her face and her muscles straining themselves had Randy's blood pumping. She needed this, she lived for her runs in the morning.

Especially to clear her head after the news she had gotten yesterday.

She slowed down and walked. Was it even safe to be running? God, she was going to have to change her life.

Oh god, what was she going to tell Grant? Forget that, what if Austin found out?

She started looking all around feeling slightly paranoid. What if he was watching her right now?

She made a noise of frustration and sat down on one of the park benches.

What was she going to do? She was too old for this. She was going to start all over again and without Grant by to help her like the first time.

How could she have been so stupid? Although she did feel slight butterflies in her stomach at the situation.

She put her hands on her stomach. She was a baby, Grant's baby.

How was she going to tell him? Should she even tell him? She should...Right? He was going to freak. She needed to talk to someone, actually she needed girl time.

She took out her phone and typed a quick group text to her girlfriends in the city.

Goodness what was Sophie going to say? Probably a lot.

Maddie and Lidia agreed to meet for lunch at the country club. She headed back to her condo. The walk was nice to finish clearing her head.

She took a quick shower and got dressed. She was quite hungry and drove to the club. She ordered a bowl of fruit to wait for her friends.

"Couldn't you have waited?" Lidia teased as she sat down. "Maddie was just leaving her car with the valet. So...what's the emergency?"

"I think we should wait for Maddie to get here. I want to get both your reactions at the same time."

"This sounds serious."

"It is."

"Hello, glad we're getting together." Maddie gave them a quick hug. "It's been a while."

"Let's order something to eat and then we'll get to the main talk." Lidia suggested as the waiter came their way.

They made their orders, Randy also got something else apart from the fruit.

"I'm curious to know what you wanted to talk about." Maddie smiled secretly. Dexter had told her what had really happened on Thanksgiving with Randy and Grant. She had been told not to tell though.
She was hoping that they would get back together.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this." Randy gave them a nervous smile.

Lidia started getting concerned. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Are you sick?"

"No, no. Not sick exactly. Um, I'm...oh...I'm pregnant."

"What?!" Lidia covered her mouth when she practically yelled that out. "Oh god, have you been dating Harper Maxwell without telling us?"

"What? No, god, he left like a few weeks ago back to where he came from. I only went on one dinner with him a long time ago."

Maddie squealed. "Oh my god! It's Grant's!"

"What?! When did this happen?! What is going on?!" Lidia joined her.

Randy noticed that a few people were looking over at them. She cleared her throat. "Could we whisper?"

"Is it?" Maddie lowered her voice.

"How do you know about him and me?" Randy asked. "Ugh, never mind, Dexter apparently can't keep a secret from you. Yes, it's his."

Lidia snorted. "How can you not tell him if he's the father. He's going to want to know. He might not believe it at first with the cheating you did but..."

"You're right." Randy nodded. "I can tell him the baby is from the guy I cheated. You are a genius."

"What? No, you just told us that he's the father. You can't lie to him. I won't accept it." Maddie shook her head. "Nope, you are telling him. If you want back up, we'll be there. He has a right to
know."

"I agree with Maddie. When are you going to tell him?"

"If I have to tell him then in eight or nine months." Randy distracted herself with another strawberry.

Lidia and Maddie stared at her.

"What? Fine. I don't know when I'm going to tell him but I need time. I'm only a month along, I have a bit of it."

"I say the sooner the better. The longer you take the angrier he's going to be. We know how good he was when you were pregnant with Sophie. He's going to want to take part in this."

Randy knew they were right. "I can't believe I keep getting myself in these messes. Once again everyone is going to be disappointed in me."

"We're not disappointed." Lidia reached over and held her hand. "Yes, it might not be ideal everything that has happened but Grant loves you and you love him. If both of you could move on from that
and...get together." She started sniffling.

That got the waterworks started on Randy. "Why are you crying?"

"Because I just thought of how hard this is going to be for you at your age."

That made Maddie laugh and cry at the same time. "You guys...we're old, we get it."

"I thought I was going through menopause from some of the symptoms." Randy giggled. "I swear, I can't believe this is happening. A baby..." She wiped her cheeks.

"Grant is going to be happy." Lidia took tissues out of her purse to wipe their eyes. "Aww, how cute is that baby going to be. I mean, look at Sophie."

Randy had to agree. She and Grant did pretty good in that department.

"Oh god, what is Sophie going to say?" Maddie asked.

"I thought about that. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Let's celebrate." Lidia raised her glass. "To having a baby in your late forties."

They laughed and clinked glasses.

"I have a place I want to take you before we make our drive to the city." Joe told Sophie as he carried out her suitcase.

"Where are we going?" She waited for him to help her get in the truck.

"I wanted to take you to the swimming hole. You haven't gone and I know how much you loved it."

"I haven't gone because I can't swim." Her stomach swirled with nerves.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Let's go then."

He helped her into his truck and drove out to the place. He hoped that it didn't remind her of that night. He should have thought about that first.

"If you don't want to go, I'm fine with it."

She understood that he had just realized another reason why she hadn't gone back there. It was maybe time to move on little by little. "It's fine. I want to go, with you."

He parked the truck and took out the blanket he had brought for them to sit down on the grass.

He carried her to it and set her down. He sat down beside her and they stared at the calm water.

"I missed this place. Can't believe it's been so long since I've been here."

"I missed having you here. Every time you left it was torture." She laughed. "I would hope that you got a flat tire or something on your way out. I just wanted you to stay so bad."

"It was torture for me too." He looked her way and leaned over to cup her cheek. "All I could think about was your tear filled blue eyes."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't. For once you would look at me like...you cared."

"I've always cared about you."

"I meant, like you cared like you did about Jake."

Her eyes twinkled as they got wet with tears. "What do you...Joe..."

"I've always been in love with you. Always." He felt a tear slide down his cheek. He hadn't even noticed that he was about to cry.

"But why? I'm not anyone special."

"Sophie...you are. You are strong, you are hardheaded and you have a big heart. How could I help not falling in love with you? You are perfect."

She had never noticed it. How could she have not seen it? The way he always spent time with her. The way he treated her. The way he looked at her.

She had always been focused on Jake and never bothered to see that Joe was suffering seeing her with his brother.

He caressed her cheek. "You probably don't feel the same but I had to tell you. I couldn't keep it to myself any longer. Not when I'm spending all this time with you."

Before he could pull away she threw her arms around him and pulled him in. The moment their lips pressed together she unleashed what she felt for him.

The feeling had been growing and moving from a friendship to something more. The way her heart fluttered confirmed it.

She didn't think it was the same love she had for Jake but it was a different. She held on to him. Their lips fitting perfectly.

He slid his fingers through her hair. He couldn't believe he was kissing her. It was everything he ever dreamed.

When they finally pulled away they pressed their foreheads together.

"What does this mean?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we going to stay friends or would you...would you like something more? You can think about it. I'm not trying to pressure you at all."

She didn't have to think about his question because she already knew the answer. "I want something more. I think we deserve it." They did for different reasons.

Add Your Comments:

Comments

Sorry for the somewhat short chapters and updating until afternoon. It gets a bit hard when I have to write them from scratch the same day. Hope you enjoy them, I tried to pack them with news lol. Gives you something to look forward to for Monday. I hope. :)

Holy crap balls! I can't believe Randy is prego!!! Please make it right with her and Grant! I know this is your story but I'm gonna have to take a pill if they don't get together soon. I love joe and Sophie together much much more than Jake. Jake is innocent but he's also lazy and cant give Sophie what she she deserves. Loved these!

AuthorReply

Comment | 46 words

Fri, May 19th, 2017 3:47pm

It will become right, in a way. Sorry for driving you crazy lol. Thank you for loving them. Yes, Sophie and Joe make a better match. I always thought so. Jake needs to grow up and be a man. He'll do it with the right woman. :)

Sorry but I'm going to try to update by evening. If I don't get the chapters out I will have them out by tomorrow with an additional chapter bonus for the wait. I'm hoping though that it won't happen cause then I'll have to come up with five chapters in one day lol. I'm so sorry readers. I've had a tiresome day and my mother is coming right now. Lord help me... :) *Don't think that deserved a happy face but I wasn't sure what to put cause it's not exactly meant to be a sad face.